Belt clasp



Dec. 28, 1943. c. E. PETERSON BELT ,CLASP Filed Sept. 23, 1942 Patented Dec. 28, 1943 BELT CLASP Carl E. Peterson, Montclair, N. J., assignor to Eastern Tool & Mfg. 00., Bloomfield, N. J.

Application September 23, 1942, Serial No. 459,453

2 Claims.

This invention relates to an improved clasp which may be used on belts, straps and similar articles. It is particularly adapted for use where the tension may be temporarily relaxed or twisting strains may be applied to the clasp.

The invention is designed to provide a clasp which is adapted for such large belts as army belts of heavy canvas and which is constructed to maintain its closed position under twisting or relaxing to which the belts "may be subjected.

The invention is adapted for manufacture from wire and one member, the subject of the invention, may be constructed or formed from one piece of wire whereby one end of the wire forms a spear head for receiving the female member of the clamp and the other end of the wire braces the spear head and is itself shielded against catching in clothing or injuring a finger.

Members of this kind have been made of wire and the general form of belt clasp is not new, but the invention resides in the disposition of the wire to form the member and in the improved form of spear head which re-seats the complementary or female member after any undue twisting or tilting has temporary and partly unseated it from the male member.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing. In said drawing Figure 1 is a face view of a belt clasp member embodying the invention with the female member shown in dotted outline. Figure 2 is a section on line 2-2 in Figure 1.

The member of the clasp that is the subject matter of this application is shown in full lines in the drawing and is known in the trade as the male member. It is preferably made of wire and the main portion is a loop or other form for attachment to a scrap or other part to be secured. The form shown comprises a loop having a straight back strand l1 bent back at the ends at H and I2 and then extending inwardly part way as at I3 and M. The return bend l5 extends outwardly and upwardly and then inwardly as at 16. The free end of the wire extends inwardly and is flattened to form the spear head 11. The spear head has its greatest width intermediate the ends at I8. The top and bottom edges are tapered toward the tip as at l9 and toward the part l6 as at 20.

The strand I4 is extended as half 2| of a return bend and the end 22 rests against or close to the juncture it of the return bend l5 and the spear head H. The parts are preferably in the same plane and the end 22 is shielded against contact with clothing or fingers and also acts as a brace for the spear head.

The other member of the clasp, known as the female member is of conventional form with the loop 23, extensions 24 and the inwardly bent hooks 25. The hooks 25 are passed over the spear head I! and seated as shown in Figure 1, the resiliency of the metal holding the members together. The members are separated by turning the member 23 toward the observer of the drawing and the hooks 25 swing out of the seats in which they rest when the members are assembled. The resiliency of the metal holds the members in assembled position under normal conditions.

The form of the spear head is of utility as the edges 20 are not abrupt. In case the members are tilted to cause one of the hooks to ride up on an edge 20 while the other hook remains in its seat, when the tilting pressure is released the spring motion of the hooks and the easy slope of the edges 20 cause the members to snap back into seated or normal position.

The form of the male member is such as to enable its manufacture in an automatic machine including the stamping or flattening of the spear head which is thus thinner than the rest of the member, all the parts lying in the same general plane.

I claim:

1. In a belt clasp a member made from a single piece of wire formed into a loop with a return bend at one side and one end of the wire forming a fiat spear head turned inwardly toward the loop, the other end of the wire forming half a return bend with its tip at the juncture of the return bend and the spear head and. in the same plane whereby the tip serves as a brace for the spear head under a strain.

2. In a belt clasp a member made from a single piece of wire formed into a loop with a return bend at one side with one end of the wire forming a. fiat spear head turned inwardly toward the loop, the other end of the wire forming half a return bend with its tip at the juncture of the return bend and the spear head and in the same plane whereby the tip serves as a brace for the spear head under a strain, the spear head having tapered top and bottom edges with its greatest width located substantially intermediate its ends.

CARL E. PETERSON. 

